St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-29
WHERE FAKES FLOURISH.
The Sort of News" Which Duluth Pa.
pers Serve Out
TO SIMPLE-MINDED READERS
A Thrilling Yarn About the Murder of
Three Indian Maidels to Pro-
pitiate Deity.

The special that follows was wired tC
the GLOBE last night from Duluth. The
story, it seems, was printed by the Du-
luth Herald yesteId day, and alleged to
be obtained from well-known Indian
scout. From the fact that no names
were given suspicious were aroused in
the GLOBE office, and it did not take
long to expose the fake. The frightful
affair, it will be seen, is represented to
have occurred in the valley of Birt-Laet-
Serus. Spelling this strange INDIAN
name backwards it reads: Sure Steal
Trib. 1t is simply trap into which the
Herald hopes its rival, the Tribune, will
fall by copying. Probably it willard
other enterprising papers are also likely
to bite. The GLOBE hopes that its cor
respondent will not be the only one
taken in. The story is printed by the
GLOBE to show TO what extent the tai
ent of the romancing fakir can soar in
the bracing atmosphere of Duluth. If
the Tribune swallows the bait to-day
the Herald ought to send new hats to
the entire GLOBE force for keeping
mum about it and not giving its rival a
telegraphic tip.
HERE Is THE YARN.
Special to the Globe
DULUTH, MIMI. Nov. 2S.-The Herald
this evening says: \ man from Grand
Portage, near Pigeon river. gives a
graphic account of a horrible Indian
tragedy, which took place not far from
there last Sunday. 1t may be remem-
bered that the Indians at the Grand
Portage reservation were much alarmed
at the report last summer which alleged
that all the Indians of Northeastern
Minnesota were to be removed to White
Earth reservation and kept there. The
Grand Portage band refused TO meet
the commissioners and retired TO Canada
to avoid holding any conference with
them. Lately they have become very
much disturbed by rumor that they
were about to be removed from their
ancestral hunting grounds. and they
recently INDUCED in very tragic cere-
mony in hopes of invoking the aid of
n ani-BaZhO, their popuE,r deity. i'll re-
tanning what is left to them of
their birth righl. Within tract
of land claimed by these
aborigines is valley known to them as
"Birt-Laet-Serus.' or ''Place Where
Carib0o DE- This valley is a perfect
GOlgotha, and is totally avoided by
SuperStitiouS Indians. except upon such
occasions as are hereinafter described.
In this valley is beautiful little lake.
the waters of which, strange to say,
possess strong medicinal qualities.
Whenever moose or cariboO fall sick or
receive any injury some instinct leads
them to this lake, and its shores and
II
bones and horns of animals who have
died in spite -Of-the heating waters.
Foxes and Canada lynx abound in the
surrounding forests. and the numbering
bear does not always diSdain TO join the
carrion feast. But in spite of this
plethora of game the moccaSined foot of
the Indian fur hunter seldom prOfaneS
the soil of ''Birt-Laet-SeruS." The
reason for this avoidance is to be found
in the fact that it is here that the Chip
pewaS of lake Superior have for ages
offered up human sacrifices to the god
or demon.a Nani-Bozhe, when they have
considered themselves in dire dis
tress, and it was here last Sunday
that three Indian maidenS gave
up their lives for the good
of the tribe. The victim must be a fe
male blood relative of the tribal mead or
chief, and unmarried. When it is de-
cided in council that sacrifice is
needed. the members of the band, sworn
to secrecy upon pain of instant death,
repair to the borders, of the fateful val
ley. Once there two booths of boughs
are made, one about 100 feet wide and
another circular one about ten feet in
diameter. In a smaller booth are placed
the young women or girls who are
ELIGIBLE. FOR SACRIFICE,
and down the center Of the larger booth
are placed a row of posts. post for
each girl. The tops of the posts are
fashioned into a rude sembIance of
human heads and the preparations are
completed. The SquawS now prepare
the dog feast, which is SOlemnly par
taken of by the men alone, and when
this is got away with the medicine man
takes a small bowl of dog soup and an
nOints each of the posts. The young
men then bring out the medicine drums
and seating themselves in close circle
in the big booth. begin their everlasting
tum-tum tum-tum and ''Hya-hya." All
the older men are furnished with clubs
and they dance and run around inside
of the booth, striking the head-like top
of each post as they pass it. The first
post that falls or is broken deSignateS
the girl that is to die, and as the
medicine man alone knows which
it represents, no one can tell
who will be the victim. As soon, how
ever, as the post is down or broken all
the girls are made to drink cup of
soup, and the unfortunate maiden thus
selected in reality by the medicine man
is made to poison herself, as the cup al
ways contains some subtle poison
known only too well by Indian medicine
men. After this the usual Indian
funeral dance and feast takes place, and
when these ceremonies are over the
corpse of the victim is wrapped in
blankets, then cased in birch bark and
laid away upon poles put upon. the
branches of tree and left as a perpet
ual sacrifice to the great Nana-Bozho,
In return for which his protection is
supposed to he certain. These are the
details of the tragedy which a we'll
known explorer brought down from
Grand Portage yesterday, and which
call for governmental action at once.
The ceremony above described was re-
peated twice, and resulted in the sacri-
flee of three young SquaWs to this hOrri-
bic superStition. The bodies of the
three. encased in birch bark. now Occu-
Ply prominent place in the valley of
Birt-Laet-SeruS as standing menace
TO the government and to civilization.
Witnesses can be produced who can re-
cite the horrible details of the affair as
they heard il from an Indian scout who
was not in sympathy with the awful
proceeding. but was pOWerleSS TO utter
fere, and the story is more Sickening
than can be described in words.